


The One Where She Said Yes for a Reason

by LightMayo



Category: Friends (TV)
Genre: But really this is what should have happened, Canon Divergent, F/M, Happy Ending, With hints of canon here or there
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-27
Updated: 2020-11-27
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:07:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 15,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21579634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LightMayo/pseuds/LightMayo
Summary: Rachel wasn’t thinking straight when she said she would marry Joey. But that doesn’t mean she didn’t know what she was saying.Or, how Joey and Rachel ended up together.
Relationships: Rachel Green/Joey Tribbiani
Comments: 13
Kudos: 107





	1. Prologue

“Joey,” Rachel said. _What was he doing?_

Joey turned around. Down on one knee holding a ring. “Oh my God.”

Joey was proposing to her. Was he still in love with her? He must have been. Either way, for him to give up everything for her.... Ross was probably still chatting with some nurse. Yet Joey was here with her. Did she want to spend the rest of her life with Joey? She could imagine a lot worse. When she thought about it, she kind of liked the idea.

”Okay,” she said with a smile.


	2. Chapter 2

Joey immediately knew he had done something wrong. He had done something very wrong. The problem wasn’t that he didn’t want to marry Rachel.

The problem was that he _did_.

He had to talk to her, he knew he had to talk to her, but Ross and everyone had walked in the room, and now he didn’t want to go back in.

He never stopped being in love with Rachel. Ross had good qualities, but he was very bad at hiding it whenever he was in love with Rachel. Joey was determined not to be like that; Rachel didn’t deserve that trouble. Joey had done what he could do and this was _his_ problem now.

Still, his feelings wouldn’t go away: happy when he heard her laugh, excited when she walked into the room, depressed when he stood back watching her from afar, thinking about how beautiful she looked and how much he wanted to kiss her, but he couldn’t.

Then, she went and said she would marry him. That changed things. Didn’t it? If you say you’ll marry someone, surely you feel something, right?

Joey needed to talk to someone. “Phoebe,” he called, after spotting her. “Have you seen Chandler?”

”Yeah, I saw him go in to talk to Rachel.”

”Rachel. Hmm.” Joey sighed.

“Hey,” Phoebe asked, “did you hear Ross was going to propose to Rachel?” That would explain the ring. God, would Ross ever forgive Joey?

“I have been made aware. Pheebs, can we talk for a bit?”

“What’s going on?”

”I did a bad thing.” Phoebe waited for Joey to continue. “I... did a bad thing.”

”Joey I can’t help you if you won’t tell me what’s going on.”

Joey told her the whole story.

”Chandler,” Rachel called as he walked towards the door of her room. “Could I speak with you for a moment?”

”Yeah,” he said.

Monica paused suspiciously. “Chandler, there’s something we were going to do.”

”Trust me, Mon, I wouldn’t want to miss out on it. I’ll be a minute.” Monica walked out the door.

”You know Joey pretty well, right?”

”We’ve exchanged some words here and there.” Rachel glared at him. “Yeah, why?”

”Has he said anything to you about me, recently?”

”Rach, I’m not sure it’s my place to disclose that.”

”Did he say anything to you about asking me to marry him?”

”Marry you? Goodness no. Why?”

”He asked me to marry him.”

”He asked... He what? Wow. No, no, he didn’t say anything. What did you say?”

”I said yes,” Rachel said, smiling.

”Do you want to marry him?” Rachel swallowed, the smile leaving her face instantly.

”I... I might. I don’t know, Chandler. I don’t want some loveless marriage. Does he want to marry me, or is this like that episode of Frasier where Niles proposed to Daphne because he thought she was pregnant and wanted to be able to help her with the baby?”

”First of all, I don’t think you need to worry about Joey watching Frasier. Now, if Steve from Blue’s Clues proposed to anyone.... Look, I think you need to talk to Joey. There’s a good chance this is all a big misunderstanding.”

Rachel started crying. “Hey, or not. I mean, thinking she was pregnant wasn’t the only reason Niles proposed to Daphne. Talk to him,” Chandler added.

Rachel smiled and wiped her eyes. “Thanks, Chandler.”

”Happy to help.”


	3. Chapter 3

Joey sat back in the chair. He didn’t want to think about how long it had been. He knew he needed to get up and go talk to Rachel, but he didn’t want to do that. They weren’t going to get married, the rational part of him knew that. Still, Joey could help but imagine her walking down the aisle towards him. He felt bad about, too; she had just had Ross’ baby.

So, he sat in the chair and let the time tick by. “Hey, Joey,” he heard Chandler call, “how are you doing?”

”Chandler, I did a bad thing.”

”You mean with Rachel?”

Joey nodded. “How do you know?” 

“I talked to her. Joe, what makes you think it was such a bad thing.”

”Are you serious? I asked her to marry me! I can’t do that!”

”Well, do you want to marry her?”

”Yes! I do, Chandler. I keep trying to think about how I need to go talk to her, or how I need to go talk to Ross, but all I can think of is her and I under the-the-the wedding arch thing.”

”Trust me, Joey, that’s far from the worst thing in the world. Really, you should go talk to Rachel. I think it will go better than your expecting.”

”But, but, but what about Ross? I can’t do this to him.”

”Well, yes, at some point you should talk to him to. So, Ross or Rachel, how about you go talk to one of them. You’re not doing anything sitting here.”

”Yeah, thanks Chandler.”

Joey got up to go talk to Rachel but saw Ross outside her door. “Ross, can I talk to you?”

”Uh, sure.”

”I did a bad thing,” Joey said for the third time that day. “I accidentally proposed to Rachel.”

” _Accidentally_? Well, let me accidentally say ‘What the Hell?’ and you be glad I don’t accidentally smack you.”

Joey told the whole story of his accidental proposal.

”Well,” Ross said, “that clears some things up. Specifically why she was wearing that ring. I figured she saw it and assumed I was going to propose.”

”Ross, I was going to go talk to her alone. Is that okay?”

”Fine, sure, just don’t, uh, accidentally shoot her.”

”Hey, Rachel,” Joey said with a smile.

”Hey, Joey, come in. I was wondering why you hadn’t come by.”

Joey looked at Rachel. She was so beautiful. “Well, we really ou—“

”You, wearing the ring,” Ross loudly burst through the door. “It thought, it wasn’t making sense. There’s only one possibility. Joey asked you, you said you’d marry him.”

Rachel was silent.

”You did didn’t you? Wow, what made you think up that genius idea. Seriously, what on God’s green Earth; is there something I’m missing? Rachel, I knew you would be moving on in the next 18 years, but you couldn’t wait 18 hours? I, I need to go for a walk.” Ross left, slamming the door behind him.

Rachel and Joey looked at each other. Neither of them spoke for a long time.

”We can’t do this, can we?” Rachel finally said.

”No,” Joey agreed. “Not now.”

“Have you been in love with me this whole time since you told me?”

Joey looked away. He cleared his throat. “Yeah.”

”You’ve been very... respectful about it. Seriously, thank you.”

They sat in silence for a while more.

”Hey, when I propose to you for real, it’s gonna knock your socks off,” Joey said.

Rachel giggled. Joey looked into her eyes and smiled shyly. He hugged her.

”Rach, if I can ever help with anything, just let me know.”


	4. Chapter 4

A few months after Emma was born, the city saw one of the coldest weeks Joey could remember. Christmas decorations were all out on the streets, but no one was paying any attention to them; people walked where they needed to as quickly as possible. For once, everyone was jealous of Chandler living in Tulsa.

Joey was watching Thursday Night Football when he heard someone knock on his door. He went to open it. “Hey, Joey,” Rachel said. 

“Hey, Rachel, what’s going on? Is everything alright?”

”The heat in my apartment broke. Ross was picking up Emma from his parents, and I told him just to stay there, but would it be too much trouble for me to stay here until tomorrow morning?”

”No, not at all. You’re old bed should still have sheets on it. If you need a toothbrush, I bought one the other day and haven’t opened it yet; it should be in the bathroom.”

”Thank you so much, Joey. I owe you.” She took off her coat and gloves, although she was still wearing three shirts and two pairs of pants. “What are you watching?”

”Football, but you can change it if you want.”

”Really?” she asked, sitting down in the lounge chair.

”Yeah.” Rachel started flipping through channels. “Do you want anything to drink?”

Rachel looked up at Joey. “You mean like a glass of water or a glass of wine?” she asked.

Joey shrugged. “Either one.”

”I’d have a glass of wine if it isn’t too much trouble.” Rachel finally settled on one of those cheesy, cable Christmas movies. Joey got out a bottle of wine and a single glass.

”I have to be at work early,” he explained. “Or, ‘early’ for me,” he said, doing finger quotes, which made Rachel chuckle.

Joey sat next to her on the arm of the lounge chair. He turned to look at her. He was still crazy in love with her. It was hard sometimes, if he was being honest, it was hard a lot of the time, but he wasn’t going to stop spending time with her. They had fun together.

Midway through the movie, Rachel leaned her head against Joey’s side. He put his arm around her as she sipped the wine.

Towards the end of the movie, Rachel finished off the wine. “There’s no more vine!” she said then laughed at her mistake.

”Yeah, we should probably go to bed soon.”

”Can’t we finish the movie? There are only as many minutes left as are left.”

”Yeah, sure.”

When the movie finished, neither Joey or Rachel moved immediately. Rachel was still leaning against Joey, and Joey pulled her towards him. Joey turned his head sideways to look at her.

Then, Rachel did something that surprised them both. She pulled herself up and kissed him. She didn’t stop either.

Joey wasn’t going to stop her, although on some level he knew he should. The woman he had been in love with for almost a year was making out with him, and she was good at it, too. “You’re so beautiful,” he said when he got a chance.

Eventually, Joey figured they should go to bed, and Rachel agreed.


	5. Chapter 5

“Hey,” Joey said as Rachel walked slowly out of her room. “Can I get you anything? Breakfast?” It was 10 in the morning and Joey had made pancakes.

“God, it’s Friday? I have to get to work, don’t I. God,” Rachel said. “Yeah, can I have a glass of water, and maybe some Motrin or something like that? I don’t think I’ll eat anything.”

Joey grabbed her an ibuprofen and some water and sat down next to Rachel at the counter. He ate his food in silence, not wanting to talk about the previous night. He knew how it would end.

”Do you remember last night?” he eventually asked.

”No, I really don’t,” Rachel said. “God, I didn’t really mean to drink that much. I know I’ve said that before, but this time I really didn’t. God. Hey, who won last night?”

”Packers, I think.” She didn’t remember. So, Joey made a decision. He wasn’t going to tell her. It wasn’t like they were going to go out. She’d just tell him that and he’d feel bad and it would be another five years until he got over her and he still didn’t know the exchange rate for Vermont money.

They sat in silence while Joey finished his pancakes. “Well, I should get ready for work, now,” Rachel said when he was done. “I didn’t do anything last night, did I?”

Joey opened his mouth to say no. It would be so easy. Then, he met her eyes. He knew it wasn’t right. It would be harder for him, but that would be his problem to bear. Joey Tribbiani wasn’t a liar. “I’m sorry,” was the first thing he said. “We, kinda, made out, for like fifteen minutes. I’m sorry.”

Rachel rubbed her head. “No, don’t apologize. I was the one who got so drunk.” Rachel waited a moment. “Joey, honey, I know you have been being... and with this... but I can’t because... Ross.”

“I figured that would be the case.”

”I’m sorry, honey.” After waiting a while, she said, “I should stop by my place before going to work.”

”Yeah,” Joey agreed. He exhaled slowly. “How’s your head?”

”Still hurts, but the Motrin helped. Hey, thanks again for letting me stay here last night.”

”Oh, it was no problem. Your welcome, anytime, really, Rach.”

”Thanks, Joey.” She hugged him and walked out the door.

After watching the door close, Joey stood still for a while, not moving. He had made out with her. Once upon a time, he would have been thrilled, and gone and yanked off thinking about it. Now, all he wanted was to be with her. All he wanted was to be with her.


	6. Chapter 6

Ross and Emma were in the apartment when Rachel got home from work. “Hey, Ross, how are your parents?”

”They were fine,” he answered as he handed Emma to Rachel.

”I haven’t seen you in too long,” she said in her baby-voice. “No, I haven’t.”

”Are you coming to Monica’s, tonight?” Ross asked.

“No, I might go to bed. I got less sleep than I should have last night.”

”Oh, huh, did you and Joey hook up?” Ross asked sarcastically.

It would have been easy enough for Rachel to say that she had had a long day or that her head hurt, both of which were true, but something about what Ross said, probably how accidentally close he was, made her want to say something else. “You know Ross, one of these days you might grow up, quit acting like a toddler, and not be jealous of every guy I interact with. It’s pathetic. It’s really pathetic.”

”Yeah, sorry,” he said with a hint of sarcasm.

An hour later, Rachel had put Emma down and gotten into bed. She really was tired. Somehow, though, she couldn’t fall asleep. She kept thinking about Joey. He was all she had thought about all day. She hadn’t thought about a guy that much since she started dating Ross.

When Joey first told Rachel he was in love with her, her immediate response was to feel bad, but to tell him she didn’t feel the same way. When she had proposed her immediate response was almost the exact opposite. Now, she would definitely say yes. What had changed? Nothing had changed. How long was she going to pretend nothing had changed.

Rachel was on his couch, lying under Joey as they hungrily made out. Joey pushed his tongue into her mouth as his eyes stared into hers. “I love you, Rachel,” he said.

”I love you, Joey,” she answered

When Rachel heard Emma crying, she was angrier than she had ever been about being woken up, and that wasn’t because of how tired she was.


	7. Chapter 7

It _was just a dream, Rachel,_ she told herself. _That’s all it was._

Rachel had had dreams before. This one was not special. Or so she would keep telling herself.

Rachel was sitting at the kitchen table, holding Emma. Ross was going on about something to do with dinosaurs. One would think that over the last eight years he would realize that she just didn’t care about dinosaurs. Oh well. It gave her time to think.

 _No!_ she reminded herself. She wasn’t supposed to be thinking. It was just a dream. That was all it was.

She had to stop remembering the dream. But that was that set it apart from any other dream of hers. Rachel never remember her dreams. This one: she could remember clearly. How excited she was to finally be with Joey. How much she wanted to keep kissing him.

 _Stop thinking about the_ dream, she told herself. _Keep you head in the real world. Like when Joey proposed to you. That was the real world, wasn’t it?_ She wondered if Joey and her would have gotten married if it weren’t for Ross.

The thought made her look up at Ross, who had finished talking. “Do I need to know any of that?” she asked.

Ross looked irritated and inhaled as if he was going to repeat himself. “No,” he said.

”Okay.” Rachel looked down at Emma. It wouldn’t be fair to her for Rachel to date Joey, would it? She wasn’t sure, although Emma certainly did love her Uncle Joey. Ross, Ross would be furious. That was the obstacle. Rachel looked back up at Ross. He had stopped talking. _You know what?_ she thought to herself. _If I’m actually thinking about not not doing this, I’m not going to let Ross get in the way. He’s a big boy. He can handle himself._

Did that mean she _was_ thinking of not not doing it? The idea thrilled her, but she was also scared. What if he wasn’t still in love with her? What if he didn’t want to hurt Ross?

 _It’ll be alright,_ she told herself. She could believe she was going to ask Joey to date her. The thought made her smile.

When Rachel called Joey asking to go to lunch, he had picked some sandwich shop near his studio. Emma was home with the nanny, and Joey was already sitting down when Rachel walked in.

”How’s Ross doing?” Joey asked at some point during their conversation.

”Well,” Rachel said, “in order for me to answer that, I’d have to tell you how the dinosaurs are doing, and the true is I just don’t care how the dinosaurs are doing.” Joey chuckled. “How’s Dr. Ramoray doing?” she asked.

”Oh, it’s all right. What about you? Are you excited to be back at work?”

”You know Joey, people don’t ask that enough. Yeah. I’ll miss parts of being home, but it’s been good to be back.”

Joey took a bite of his sandwich. “I was glad when you asked me to have lunch. I haven’t seen you as much since you moved out.”

”I know. It’s good for Emma to be with Ross, but we did have a lot of fun, didn’t we?”

”For sure.” Joey was almost finished with his sandwich. If she was going to talk to him, she should do it now. She was so nervous. She hadn’t prepared for that.

”Joey,” she said.

“Yeah,” said Joey after she had taken a long pause.

”Joey, I have to ask you... do you want to go out with me?”

”Yes,” Joey said. So many thoughts were flying through his head, mostly about Ross, but yes, yes he did want to go out with her. “Wednesday night?”

”Sure,” she replied. As they left the restaurant she pulled him closer and kissed him. She didn’t pull away immediately but let the kiss take its natural course.

”I’m looking forward to it already,” Joey said. Rachel was, too.


	8. Chapter 8

_Rachel wants to go out with me,_ Joey thought as he walked to the studio. So many questions he didn't know the answers to were bouncing around in his head, but that fact was enough to put a wide smile on his face. 

And she had kissed him. She had been sober that time, too, and she had kissed him. How great was that?

If she had kissed him, she must like him, right? She must be going out with him because she liked him? Of course she was, why else would she be going out with him?

Had she talked to Ross? He would be angry. Really angry. Then again, Joey had been in love with Rachel for more than a year, and now she wanted to go out: Ross was not going to stop him.

Was it weird that he was in love with her? They hadn't been going out for half an hour. Of course, he had known her for so much longer than half an hour. He had to try to remember not being in love with Rachel.

And where should they go on a date? It had to be perfect. But at the same time, he didn't want Ross finding out if Rachel wasn't ready for that. Joey didn't want to go somewhere crazy, but Rachel deserved the best. If only there was someplace in the city that had good restaurants that Ross wouldn't even know existed.

That's what Joey was telling one of his costars, John Warosa, before their scene. John told him about a strange place that seemed to match what Joey needed. A place called Staten Island.

"Where are we going?" Rachel asked as Joey directed her through Battery Park.

"You'll see. Trust me, it'll be fun." Joey brought Rachel out onto the ferry. "There," he said, pointing up to the words on the side of the boat. "Read that."

"Statue Island Ferry. Are we going to the Statue of Liberty?"

"No, look closer."

"Staten Island Ferry. What the hell is Staten Island?"

"That's what I said! Apparently, there's this island below Manhattan, next to Brooklyn, called Staten Island."

"Huh," Rachel said. "Well, so is it some small little island that's part of New Jersey?"

"Right? That's what I thought, too. But it's not small. It's larger than Manhattan. And get this, Rach, that's not even the craziest part. The island is a part of New York City. Like, it's its own borough."

"Huh. I don't even know what to say. To think this island has been there this whole time and I've never known about it. Joey, if what you're saying turns out to be true, this will be the most memorable first date ever."

Joey smiled and nodded slightly. "That's what I'm hoping for."

It was a short walk from the ferry terminal to the restaurant. They mostly talked about Rachel's job. It seemed like she needed to talk about it, and Joey was just happy to be out with her on a date.

On the way back, they sat at the front of the boat so as to see the city. Joey held Rachel's hand, and she leaned against as they watched the city lights slowly get closer.

"I gotta tell you, Joey, you really blew away my expectations. I mean, Staten Island? Who would know about that place? And the food was really good."

Joey felt Rachel shiver next to him, so he took off his coat and put it on her. She looked so cute in his too-big coat.

"The lights," Rachel said, "they're beautiful."

"You're beautiful," Joey said. Rachel smiled in the dark.


	9. Chapter 9

"I'm gonna head out," said Chandler.

"Same," said Phoebe.

Joey moved over to the couch to sit next to Rachel. After looking around to make sure all of their friends had left, he put his arm around her.

"So," he said smoothly, "I had a great time last Wednesday, and I was wondering if you might want to go out again."

Rachel laughed. "Joey, honey, of course I want to go out again. Really, it was one of the best dates I've ever been on. I don't suppose there are any more secret islands for us to visit."

"Not that I've heard about. But, I did hear that Staten Island has a train. I was thing we would go somewhere a litte further away. You know: explore a little."

"Sounds like a plan," Rachel said, leaning against Joey. "Does Thursday work?"

"Thursday works great. I can't wait." He smiled at her looking up at him. Then, after looking around nervously to make sure no one they knew was watching, Joey leaned forward and kissed her very lightly on the lips.

"Well, the train was a bit anticlimactic," Rachel said as they walked home from the ferry terminal. "It was just like the subway."

"Hm. I would ride the subway all night if I was with you," Joey said.

"So," Rachel said, as they approached their buildings. "I was thinking that tonight I would go back to your apartment."

"I like that idea," Joey said.

"So..." Joey started when they had gotten to his apartment.

Rachel didn't let him finish, but he didn't mind. She had wrapped her arms around his neck and started making out with him him rapidly. He directed them to sit down on the couch while they took a breath. Rachel grabbed his shirt, pulled him close, and started kissing him more slowly.

A part of Joey would have been content to keep everything like that forever, but he also wanted to move further.

Very slowly, carefully, Joey took the hand he had been resting on Rachel's knee and moved it up onto her thigh, and--

_Smack._

"What was that for?" Joey cried.

"Sorry, just an accident, sorry, sorry, sorry," Rachel replied.

"Was it something I did?"

"No, it wasn't, no, no, sorry, you can start again."

Joey leaned back in to kiss Rachel, then slowly, after an appropriate duration, allowed his hand to move itself back up along Rachel's thigh and--

_Smack._

"Sorry," Rachel said. "Sorry, sorry, I don't know why this keeps happening."

Joey was quiet for a long moment. "I think I know what might be going on. I know what we should do."

"Joey, honey" Rachel said, "I really really like you, like way more than a friend."

"I really like you, too, Rach. I've really liked you for a long time. But, we've also been friends for a long time. It's no wonder certain things would feel weird. The last thing I want to do is cause problems by going too fast. Maybe we wait a month or two before we sleep with each other?"

"Oh, Joey, you would do that for me?"

"Of course, Rach. I really want this to work out."

"But you're _Joey_ , you know? Sex is what you do."

"What can I say? I'm a changed man."

"Well, I guess I should go back to my apartment," Rachel said. "Oh, shoot, I told Ross I would be away for business until tomorrow morning."

"Oh, just sleep in your old room," Joey replied. "Don't worry about it."

"Thank you so much. Well, goodnight, then," Rachel said. She kissed Joey goodnight as she walked into the room.


	10. Chapter 10

"Good morning," Joey said as Rachel walked out of her room. "I made pancakes, and I have coffee."

"Oh, thank you, honey," Rachel said. "I'll have a couple of pancakes."

Rachel sat down at the counter as Joey set a plate in front of her. "Mm," she said, "these are good. Makes me miss living with you."

"Yeah, we had fun, didn't we?"

"Care for a game of foosball?" Joey asked after they had finished breakfast.

Rachel laughed. "Sure, why not?" she said. "I could get used to this," Rachel said, after beating Joey, "pancakes, foosball."

"Yeah, well your always welcome to move back here."

"It's probably good I live with Ross. Oh, speaking of Ross, if anyone asks I spent last night in Boston."

"Boston, you say?" Joey went back into his room and fished around in his closet. He came back out holding a Red Sox cap. He placed it on her head, but he aimed wrong, so it was tilted sideways, and Rachel was biting her lower lip and she looked _so cute_ and Joey just wanted to kiss her. So, he did. Softly at first, but then, still wearing the baseball cap, she grabbed his shirt and gently pushed him against the foosball table and leaned into him, kissing him harder.

They were like that when they heard the door open. "Hey, Joey, how's it going?" Ross said.

Rachel and Joey stood up straight and stepped away from each other. "Boston," Ross said, "Like Hell. I, I, I-" Ross walked out of the room, slamming the door.

"We should have told him," Joey said.

"Yeah, I guess we should have."

"Hey, Ross," Chandler said as the door to his and Monica's apartment opened. The other five of them were sitting around the apartment eating supper, Rachel holding Emma.

"Heyy, Ross," Joey said.

"Hello everyone," Ross said, "you two," to Joey and Rachel.

"What's that mean?" Monica asked.

"Guys, now that were all here, we have an announcement." Joey paused. "Rachel and I have started dating."

Everyone congratulated the two of them. "Congrats," Ross said robotically. He subtly shook his head. He couldn't wrap his head around the two of them. Why would they do this to him? He was their friend.

"It'll be complicated at times," Joey said, "but I realized Rachel was so beautiful I didn't even care." Rachel started blushing. "And she better stop blushing before I kiss her right here in front of everyone."

Ross was not okay with this. But they were clearly serious about it. In order to break them up, Ross would need a plan, and a good one, too.


	11. Chapter 11

Dammit, Ross thought, sitting by the window at Central Perk. _Why were they dating? They couldn’t date! They weren’t allowed to date, were they? It was_ Ross _and Rachel, not_ Joey _and Rachel._ Ross remembered when he and Rachel dated. Everything was going well for so long. It was at that very table where he had found Rachel, crying, after she found out.

 _Dammit. We were on a break. We were on a break! A goddamn break. She and Joey shouldn’t be together! Gah!_ Ross banged his fist on the table.

Gunther cleared his throat. “Is everything okay, Ross?”

Ross looked up. “Ah, yes... Gunther. I’ll be heading out now... Gunther.” _Gunther told her. Gunther told her and now she’s with Joey, as if that makes any sense, and we would they think I would let that happen? I don’t have to let that._

”Hey, Gunther, did you hear Rachel and Joey are dating now?”

Gunther looked at Ross. “Ah, mm, uh, no.”

”Well, thank you... Gunther.”

_Why did we become coffee shop people? One of these days we ought to hang out at a goddamn bar._

”Hey, Ross,” Rachel said when he walked into their apartment, “Are you okay? We never got a chance to talk, and that wasn’t how we wanted you to find out. It was just, you know, so easy for Mon and Chandler, with no one knowing, and we thought-”

”I’m fine,” Ross interrupted coldly.

”Ross, I know it’s hard for you, and I don’t want that, but I really do care about Joey.”

”Why?” Ross said bitterly.

Rachel shook her head slightly. “We really have fun together. He’s fun to spend time with. He really cares about me,” she said as she looked at Ross. “Ross, honey, we had fun, and now we have Emma, who I put down for a nap by the way, but that’s the past. That’s in my past. We’re different people now, aren’t we?”

”So have you two, you know?”

“No, actually. Joey thought we should take it slowly since we’ve known each other for so long and such.”

”Joey said that? Really?” If Rachel had seen the slight smile Ross gave, everything might have gone differently. “Intriguing. You really care about him?”

”I do, Ross.”

”Alright. I have some papers to grade; I’ll be in my room.”

 _She really cares about him._ Rachel _really cares about_ Joey.

 _Let it go, Ross,_ a part of him said. _They’re your friends and they’re happy. But it’s Rachel and it’s Joey. How can I be happy?_

A simple plan, really, especially for Ross. It had only been a day.

”Gunther,” Ross said, “can we talk for a moment?”

”Uh, yes, okay,” Gunther replied.

”Remember when you told Rachel I slept with the copy shop girl?”

”Six years ago. Are you going to beat me up?”

”No, there’s a statute of limitations.”

Gunther said nothing.

”Anyway, I have a deal for you. Neither of us like Rachel dating Joey, let’s be frank about that. What if you did that thing you did to me, but to Joey?”

”Who did Joey sleep with?”

”It isn’t important. Make someone up.”

”Ross, I don’t know. I let you date her for a long time.”

”I’ll make it easy for you. You bring me a cup of coffee, and I’ll throw in a hundred dollar tip.”

Gunther looked directly as Ross. He ran a hand through his white hair. “Okay.”

Monica found Rachel first. She was sitting against that window sobbing. Gunther looked towards her but refused to look at her.

”What’s wrong?” she asked.

”I was so sure that it was what I wanted,” Rachel said through tears. “I was so sure. It just seemed right. It’s like the long and winding road takes you along its path, and this felt like where I was meant to be.”

”Rachel, what’s going on?”

”I guess the worse part is I thought he’d changed. I was so sure of it, too. It was the two of us who had changed because before, I would have never dated him, but time brought together and it felt right. It felt so right, Mon, I was so sure about it. It was just the right place to be, but it was all a lie, and it didn’t even take two weeks.”

”Rachel, please, would you tell me what happened?”

”Joey. He slept with someone else. He gave me all that crap about wanting to take it slow and it was all crap and he slept with someone else. It felt so right, Mon, I really thought I loved him. All this time, and I thought this was it, but he was a lying, cheating, son of a bitch. Damn. You know what I’m going to do? I’m going to slash his tires! No, I’m not, that’s something only indescribably horrible people do. God, how could he do this?”

”I don’t know, Rachel, I really don’t.”

”God, the lying, cheating son of a bitch.”

Monica shook her head. She thought Joey was better than that. She thought he was serious about Rachel. She was disappointed he would do that to her friend, who was still sobbing. Monica shook her head.


	12. Chapter 12

“JOEY,” Rachel yelled as she threw open the door to his apartment.

”Rachel,” Joey said, concerned, as he hurried out to the living room, “is everything okay?”

Rachel eyes hadn’t yet dried and her face was red. She was taken aback by how genuinely worried Joey seemed, and it took her a second to respond.

”No, you son of a bitch,” she said, less angrily than she meant to. “And, Joey,” she said as she walked right at him, nostrils flared, “you should know why.”

”I-“ Joey started, confused. He backed away from Rachel. “Rach, what’s going on?”

Rachel kept walking towards Joey, pointing a hard finger at him. He just looked confused; it bothered her.

”Rach, do you want to sit down?” She glared at him and poked him hard in the chest. “I swear Rachel, I don’t know what it is.”

She shook her head. He seemed so genuine, just like the man she fell in love with, her anger began to break. A single tear rolled down her cheek. “You said you wanted to go slow, for your own selfish purposes. You thought you could act like the whole thing didn’t happen, but Gunther and Rosanna are friends.”

”Please, Rach, really, I’m sorry if I hurt you, but I don’t know what’s going on.”

Rachel couldn’t take it anymore. She silently turned and walked out the door. “I trusted you,” she whispered just loud enough for Joey to hear her, “almost as much as I thought I loved you.” She shut the door, but she didn’t have enough energy to slam it.

Ross was watching the discovery channel when Rachel opened the apartment door. “Emma’s napping,” he said. He turned around and saw Rachel sobbing quietly, trying not to fall apart. “Rachel, what’s wrong.” He offered her a tissue.

She sat down and took the tissue, but didn’t reply until her eyes were dry. “Joey slept with another woman. Some friend of Gunther, named Rosanna, the little bitch.” There were no tears now.

Ross concentrated on giving no signs of recognition. “I’m so sorry, that’s awful.” He chose his words carefully. “I know you really thought he had changed.”

”It was more than that, Ross.” She didn’t elaborate for a few moments. “I thought... it was all going somewhere. That everything had some sort of path. That there was some current of life.”

”Hmm,” Ross said.

”I’m thirty-two, Ross. When I fell in love with Joey it was like the past ten years had some sort of purpose. Like one day me and Joey could look back at all the pain and sadness and it wouldn’t be as aimless and chaotic as it felt, it would be part of a great journey to find each other.”

“Do you ever think that maybe the currents will someday push us back together.”

“No, Ross. You’re my dear friend and the father of my child, but that’s done. Joey was different. It felt right, Ross. I know it didn’t to you, but Joey was funny and romantic and cute and really really cared about me being happy. It would have been such a good ending! Why couldn’t that have happened, Ross?”

”I guess ask Joey. You certainly deserve that ending, Rachel.”

“I trusted him. More than maybe anyone else ever. I loved you, but after that list you made, I always realized ‘this could end poorly.’ Joey, he seemed so real, so heartfelt. Sure we had histories, but we’ve both changed so much since when we met, I thought. That’s why it felt right, why it felt like where we were supposed to end up. I trusted him so much. He had me convinced that not trusting him would be the biggest mistake I could make. Instead, trusting him was the biggest mistake I ever made.”

Rachel stood up, off the couch, and walked over to the window. She looked out at the snow-covered city. When she spoke, there was no emotion left in her voice, just quiet resignation. “Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold.”


	13. Chapter 13

I _have to go talk to_ her, thought Joey. This must be a mistake. What did he do? What could he have done? Joey just didn’t know.

 _She broke up with me, didn’t she?_ Of course she did. Of course, he was so excited when she told him she wanted to go out, and so excited when they did go out, but now that was over. It wasn’t fair! It was over just like that and Joey didn’t even know what he did.

 _I need to sit down._ He walked towards the couch, but then he started thinking of him and Rachel sitting together on the couch. He walked towards the lounge chair, and thought of Rachel and him close against each other on the chair. Her hair tickling against his face but he didn’t mind; he liked the way it smelled.

He gave up and sat down on the floor. “I didn’t do nothing,” he said, and he was crying now. He wanted to smell her hair again, not in a creepy way (he wasn’t a different man named Joe), but because it meant he was holding her tight against him, arms wrapped around her, and she was going to look up into his eyes, and push her hair back, and kiss him, and it was going to be okay.

Joey exhaled sharply and wiped a tear from his eye. She was done with him, wasn’t she. He had hurt her, and he couldn’t stand to know that. Worse, as he looked at various objects in the apartment he couldn’t not see Rachel and think about how happy they could have been if he hadn’t done whatever he had done.

 _I need to leave,_ Joey realized. This wasn’t like when he was first in love with Rachel and couldn’t have her. This was so much worse. He wiped away more tears as he searched for the number of, of all people, his travel agent. He had to get away.

”Hi, honey,” Chandler said as he walked through the door. “How are you? Phoebe told me about Rachel and Joey.”

”Yeah, it’s such a bummer. They seemed so happy together,” Monica replied.

”Well, he’s been my friend for a long time, and this is definitely a new low, but I can’t say I’m surprised.”

”If he really did this, I’ll be really angry with him. He’ll always be my brother, but no kidding this is a new low.”

”Your brother? I don’t.... What does Ross have to do with this?”

”I don’t know it’s Ross, but I think someone has been dishonest here, and I don’t think it was Joey.”

”You really think Ross is responsible for this?” Chandler said doubtfully.

”Yeah,” Monica answered, looking straight at Chandler.

”Oh, for sure,” said Chandler, sarcastically, “Joey’s always such a saint when it comes to sleeping with women, Ross must have some sort of big secret plan.”

”Joey not half the saint Ross is when Rachel’s dating someone else. I really think Joey was trying to change. The same is not true of Ross.”

Just then, the door to the apartment opened and Chandler turned around to face it. “Hey, guys,” Joey said, “I need to talk.”

”Hey Joe,” Chandler said, “I’m kinda disappointed in you.”

Joey was irritated. “For what? Can someone please tell me what I did?”

”Joey,” Chandler responded, “you cheated on her. You slept with Rosanna.”

”Who? I didn’t-“ Joey raised the volume, defensive at first. Then he cracked, and started sobbing. He sat down on the couch, and looked back at his friends. “Please, I didn’t do that. I really really didn’t,” he said, softer, pleading, and still sobbing. Monica came to sit next to him.

It didn’t matter that he didn’t do it in the end. She thought he did, and they were over, and he couldn’t handle that, and he needed to say what he came here to say.

”Guys, I’m leaving. I’m renting this place up in Maine, on a lake, for a few weeks, but if I like it, I can buy it. If I do that, I’ll come back here and quit my job, and get my stuff, and say goodbye to everyone for real. Right now, I need to get away.”

He knew they were waiting to say something but he didn’t want to give them a chance. “It’s a solid nine hours, so I’ll be leaving early tomorrow morning. I’m sorry. I love you guys. Here’s the address, and you can call my cell, if it’s not dead.” He handed them a piece of paper and walked out their door.

The next day, Chandler, Monica, Ross, and Rachel were hanging out at Central Perk. No one seemed to want to mention Joey, until Gunther came over.

“Rachel,” he said, but she didn’t notice. “Rachel,” he said a little louder, which got her attention. “I need to tell you something, honestly.”

Ross suddenly looked up, but Gunther would not meet his eye as he continued. “I lied to you yesterday. Joey never cheated on you. Ross paid me to say that.”

For Rachel, time seemed to slow down. Chandler handed Monica two twenties but she didn’t notice the transaction. She stared at her cup of coffee. _Joey never cheated. He was honest the whole time. I ruined it. I threw it all away. I was right to trust him. And I threw that all away like an idiot. Why didn’t I try to talk with him? If only_... Rachel remembered what she told Ross about how she thought she and Joey fell in love and would live happily ever after. That could have happened if she wasn’t so stupid. That could have happened if it weren’t for her. She thought about when he held her and she felt so safe, and she could have been like that forever if she wasn’t so stupid. What if there was still time?

”I’ll call him,” she said to no one in particular. “It didn’t go through. It seemed like his phone was dead.”

”Rachel,” Monica said, “take my car, drive after him. I have his address in Maine.”

Rachel took the slip of paper from Monica thankfully and turned to someone else. “Ross, for once in your sad, miserable life, do something useful and watch over Emma while I’m gone, okay?” she said with cold rage.

Five minutes later, she was in the car, getting on the West Side Expressway. She hoped she would make it in time, although she wasn’t sure what in time meant. She hoped there was still a chance for them. The more she thought about Joey, the more she hoped they still had a chance together.


	14. Chapter 14

The mistake was going through Boston. He could’ve gone around on 495, even 95 would’ve been better, but no, he had to go straight up 93. In the middle of a large thunderstorm. And Joey had heard all about the Big Dig, and how bad it was, but he had never paid much attention; traffic in Boston wasn’t something he worried much about. Now, though he was caught in the middle of it all. He felt great sympathy for everyone who had to drive into Boston on a regular basis.

He passed an exit for the Mass Pike, but figured he didn’t need to take it. Traffic had to let up eventually, right? His outlook changed when he spent ten minutes just on the bridge over the turnpike. He took the next exit into Boston’s financial district.

Joey didn’t have a map of Boston, but he figured it would be easy enough to make his way north, especially if the street layout was anything like Manhattan. He had never driven in Boston before. He quickly learned that it was nothing like Manhattan: street with random names curved in all directions before ending suddenly with no indication as to where to go next. Massholes were honking at him the whole time.

He eventually made his way to a street named Beacon. It was large and actually straight so it seemed like Joey should be able to follow it and find is way. However, as he drove slowly along, he began to doubt that. _I’m gonna need to stop eventually_ , Joey thought to himself. Then, he saw something he thought he recognized. He pulled over and got out of the car as a burst of thunder sounded. He descended the outdoor steps and walked into the real location of the _Cheers_ bar.

”You get a lot of tourists here?” Joey asked the bartender as he ordered a soda.

”Yeah, a pretty solid number. _Cheers_ was a pretty good show.”

”It was. And it ended well. A lot of really good shows, they sometimes just have the completely wrong ending. It’s annoying. Makes you want to go write out what should’ve happened.” Joey took a sip from his soda as he heard more thunder. “Sam comes back to the bar. Norm tells him ‘Everybody has one true love.’”

”Yeah. It was a good ending.”

”Do you think that’s true?” Joey asked. He didn’t know what answer he was hoping for.

”Well, I don’t know, sure, yeah.”

”What if you didn’t know your one true love until long after you met ‘er?”

”Yeah, isn’t that like the ending? Sam spent the whole show trying to figure out what made him happy. Only in that last scene was he able to look back and realize that what really made him happy was the bar.”

”Yeah, I guess so.” Joey said as he paid for his soda. He sat at the bar for over an hour thinking about _Cheers_ , and love, and him and Rachel. It _was_ Rachel that he was happiest to be with. Especially when they were living together. He remembered the rest of that last scene. “You’ll always come back to _her_ ,” Norm had said.

If Rachel was his one true love, would he end up going back to her? He wanted to. He wanted to go back and tell her he didn’t know a Rosanna and put it all behind them end everything would be okay. Why couldn’t he do that? He was scared. Joey Tribbiani was terrified. He cared about her too much, and when it all fell apart, there was too much for him to lose, too far for him to fall, and leaving was how he figured he could begin to slow himself down. If he had to keep seeing her, knowing how close to perfect everything had gotten, he didn’t know what he would do.

It was as Joey was planning to leave the Kenny Rogers’s _The Gambler_ came on. He sat down to listen and couldn’t not keep thinking about him and Rachel.

_You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em._

Joey should’ve held onto Rachel. He should’ve fought for her. Instead he was sitting in a bar in Boston.

_Know when to walk away, know when to run._

Here he was, running away. On some level he didn’t know why. Was love supposed to be scary? Was it supposed to make him do crazy things like move to Maine? But was it the right decision? Did he know when to run or did he just run?

_You can’t count your money when you’re sittin’ at the table, there’ll be time enough for countin’ when the dealing’s done._

Joey didn’t think that was quite right. He had counted his money. He knew when he was dating her how lucky he was to have Rachel. That was the reason it was so hard to lose her.

Joey heard another thunder. It was time for him to finish his drive.

Rachel didn’t go through Boston. She went up 84 then over to 495 via Worcester. She always thought that was such a strange pronunciation. “I’m going through _WAR-sister_ ,” she joked as she went through a tollbooth.

The rain pounded down hard as Rachel kept the wipers at their top setting. She was no longer sobbing, but the last tears refused to leave her eyes. Other than that, she drove through Massachusetts smoothly, and when Joey was getting back into his car, she was already into New Hampshire. 

Even though it quickly became redundant, all she could think about was Joey. What would she say to him? “Sorry I didn’t trust you and accused you of sleeping with a woman who doesn’t exist?” Would he already be asleep? Would she annoy him by waking him up? Would he answer the door once he it was her? Would any part of him be happy to see her? Was there any chance left for them at all? Could he forgive her?

Rachel couldn’t remember a time in her life when she had worried so much about anyone. She couldn’t remember a time when she had wanted so badly to just see another person. If anything was love, this was it.

Eventually, the monotonous patter of rain on the roof quieted as Rachel drove north into Maine and the rain turned to snow. The roads became bad, requiring more of Rachel concentration, and the sky became completely dark as the night sealed itself. It was 10:30 when Rachel arrived at the address Monica gave her.

When she arrived, there were no cars in the driveway and no lights on in the house. She held her breath. She had spent so much time preparing for what she would say to Joey, but she hadn’t prepared for this. Had Joey written down the address wrong? Had he done it intentionally so no one could ever find him? What if something had happened to him on the drive up? The roads were pretty bad, and the snowstorm had picked up. What were the last words she would have ever said to him?

She started crying so hard she didn’t see the second pair of headlights illuminate the house. She did hear the car door open and close, so she walked out into the snow. She realized that she should have brought a heavier coat. She met his gaze.

”Joey,” she whispered.

”Rachel,” he replied.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rest in peace, Kenny Rogers.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How has it been four and a half months since I last updated? I think the pandemic must do strange things to my sense of time. In any event, I still intend to finish this, so here we go.

Joey didn't know what to say. This wasn't what he prepared for. The whole time--driving through the snow, fighting to keep his eyes open, picking up the key at the rental agency--he had been waiting to get to the house, go inside, and get to bed. He was tired; driving did that to him. He just wanted to be left alone, didn't he? Why else would he have fled New York so quickly? Be alone and take some time, wasn't that what he wanted?

In that case, why wasn't he angry? Why was he trying not to smile when he saw her face illuminated by his headlights? Why couldn't he help but want to wipe the snow off of her hair and wrap her in the heavy coat she very clearly wished she had brought?

What should he say in that situation? "Rachel," was all that he could.

Rachel should have prepared something, she thought. Maybe she would known what to say if she wasn't so surprised. Probably not. She stood there silently, watching the snow fall between them. She wanted to run over and hug him, but she couldn't. She shivered in the cold night. She would have to say something eventually before she froze to death.

"Ross lied," she said eventually, her voice quiet it the cold air. "Or rather, Ross paid Gunther to lie."

"You believed him," Joey said. He didn't mean to sound accusatory, but perhaps it sounded that way.

Rachel tried to blink tears out of her eyes. "I'm sorry." She failed: tears streamed down her face. She brushed them away, hoping they wouldn't freeze in the cold. "I'm sorry, Joey," she cried. "I don't know why I believed him. I should have trusted you. I should have trusted you."

Joey took two steps closer but didn't touch her. "I would never do that to you." He shook his head. "I love you too much. I don't know how I started loving you, but I know why. I love everything about you, Rachel. When you asked me to go out...." He didn't finish the sentence.

Rachel couldn't help but smile, even when she was still crying. "I'm sorry I believed him. I love you, too. If you had told me eight years ago that I would love you this much, I don't want to know what I would have said. You weren't my type, probably. But I couldn't have known how wrong I was. You are everything I want, Joey."

Joey was smiling now, too, even though it was hard to see through the snow. "I'm sorry I left immediately. I should have stayed and talked to you. Stupid really. This snowstorm, both of us driving, one of us could have been killed. I guess we all do stupid things when we're madly in love."

At that, Joey stepped forward and hugged Rachel tight, holding her close. "Come on," he said, "let's go inside and warm up." He grabbed his suitcase in one hand, kept the other around Rachel, and walked into the house.

Joey lit a fire in the fireplace and sat in front of it on the couch. Rachel sat next to him and wrapped herself in a blanket while Joey picked pieces of snow out of her hair and threw them behind the couch. He put one arm around her, and she leaned against him and turned her head to kiss him. They sat by the fireplace through the night, talking, laughing, and warming up.

After a period of time, Rachel asked what the sleeping was in the house. "Well," Joey replied, "I was going to sleep in the master bedroom, but, uh...." Joey paused. "If you want to sleep there...."

Rachel smiled. "What if I want to sleep there with you?"

Joey smiled, too. "That's--I think that would be nice," he said. "You know, there's something we were waiting to do, and, well...."

"I think we've waited long enough," Rachel finished. Joey grinned. He led Rachel in the bedroom and jumped onto the bed with her, kissing her excitedly.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s almost been a year since I started this. That’s... a long time. But, you know what, I am enjoying writing this, and I’m going to finish no matter how long it takes me.

When Joey first opened his eyes, he didn’t know where he was. He didn’t know whose light brown hair was in front of him. When he remembered were he was and who he was with, he couldn’t help but to smile. No one could see him, but he smiled anyway. He thought that there might be no place in the world where he would rather wake up than right there, next to her.

He put an arm around Rachel’s side before closing his eyes again and waiting for her to wake up.

Rachel smiled, too, when she realized whose hand was at her waist. She thought how it was only yesterday she had thought Joey had cheated on her. She was so glad she had followed him up to Maine.

Rachel rolled over onto her other side and looked right into his eyes. She wanted to laugh to laugh at the goofy grin on his face, but she realized she probably had one, too. “Hello,” she said.

Joey tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “How you doin’?” he asked. She giggled and leaned in to kiss him. Joey moaned softly, leading her to kiss him harder. He frowned as she pulled away.

”You know, Joey,” she replied, “I think I’m doing all right.” She paused. “I’m sorry I didn’t trust you,” she said softly.

“Rach,” he said, “we both did things we shouldn’t have. Right now, I’m right here, with you, and I don’t think there’s a place in the world I’d rather be.”

She smiled weakly, but looked away from his gaze. “I just....”

”Rachel, look at me.” She did as he said. “We can’t change the past. Can’t ever change it. Right now, where I want to be is right here, with you.” He kissed her softly.

”I love you, Joey,” she said.

”I love you, too,” he replied. They lied in bed for a few moments looking at each other, until Joey propped himself up on his elbow and peered over Rachel at the clock radio on her nightstand. “Does that say 10:45?” he asked.

”Yes,” she confirmed.

“Well, there’s a brunch place in town that closes at 12:15. Other than that, there’s nothing around here, so we’d have to go to a grocery store.”

”Yeah, brunch sounds good,” she said. She frowned. “I’m not sure if I have what I would need to wear.”

”Well, Rach,” Joey said, “I think what you had on last night would be perfectly acceptable for a small town brunch place. If you can find it scattered around this room.”

Rachel giggled, suddenly aware that she was not wearing anything under the sheets. “No, I mean I don’t think I have a heavy enough coat to go out. It was pretty darn cold last night.”

”Oh, I brought up a couple of pretty heavy coats,” Joey told her. “I could definitely lend you one.”

“Would it fit me?” she asked.

“No, not at all. It would be way too big for you and you would be super cute in it.”

Rachel smiled. “Alright, then,” she said, and leaned in to kiss Joey before getting out of bed.

So they went to brunch together. Joey ordered waffles, an omelet, and a plate of sausage. Rachel ordered the French toast, which she somehow ended up sharing with Joey. She made up for it by stealing bites of his waffle, and he didn’t notice, or if he did he didn’t mind. He was right that his coat was way too big for her, but it kept her warmer than hers would have, and it kinda smelled like him, which was an added bonus.

They returned home, and Rachel called Monica, who got her updated on how everyone was doing at home and how Ross was doing with Emma. They decided to drive home the next day but spend one more day at the house, and Joey called the rental agency to let them know.

Despite the storm the night before, the sky was bright blue and totally clear. When they had nothing else to do, Rachel put on Joey’s coat, a pair of his gloves, and a pair of his snow boots and followed him down the yard to see the (frozen) lake. They sat at the edge of the lake, where during the summer a dock would have been, and looked out over the sun, already beginning it’s descent at their latitude.

Joey tried to get Rachel to walk out over the lake, but she wouldn’t do it. “See those houses on those tiny islands,” Joey told her, “in the Winter you drive your car right across the lake to get to them. I know because I could’ve rented one of those instead of this house.”

Rachel shook her head. “I’m not sure I’d bet my life on it.” She paused for a moment. “Let’s build a snowman,” she said.

So they built a snowman. Or, for the most part, Joey built a snowman while she watched, but he didn’t seem to mind. He was just happy she was there. One could say they didn’t finish the snowman, as neither of them could he bothered to track down a carrot for the nose, but it had sticks for arms, and rocks for eyes, and it was enough to make them both happy.

After finishing the snowman, Joey flopped down in the snow on his back in mock exhaustion, and Rachel decided to tackle him. So they wrestled for a bit in the snow, until Joey looked up at Rachel. Her hair was filled with snow and messy against her head, and she was wearing all of his winter clothes, and her face was red from the cold but looking at him with concentration. Joey could have looked at her forever. But instead, he grabbed her face and kissed her long and hard. He kissed her like he had wanted to so badly for so long and he kissed her liked he hoped he would be able to for the rest of his life.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Am I really going to post a chapter two days in a row after only posting one in a span of eight months? I guess I am. Crazazy.

Joey’s coat was very warm, but it wasn’t waterproof, so by the time Joey reached an arm down to help her stand up, her clothes were wet, and she was getting cold. She shook her head back and forth to try to get the snow out of her hair, but that accomplished nothing except to make her hair even. Joey chuckled at the scene for a moment before leaning in to kiss her quickly. Then, he put his arm around her shoulder and led her back inside the house.

Rachel undressed herself in the bathroom and turned on a hot shower for herself, while Joey waited outside. “You know, baby,” he said, “the hot water around these parts doesn’t last very long... so if you’re gonna shower, and then I’m gonna shower....”

Rachel stuck her head out the door. The snow had melted and left her hair wet. “Oh, come on in here, you,” she said with mock exasperation, pulling Joey in by his shirt and smirking.

“What am I supposed to wear?” Rachel asked as she walked out of the bathroom. “My clothes are all soaking wet.”

Joey looked at her for a moment. “Oh, I think you look fine in this,” he said. Rachel punched him lightly in the arm, and Joey grinned; Rachel couldn’t help but to laugh at him. “I should have something that will fit you well enough,” Joey said after a moment. “But we should hang your clothes up to dry,” he added as he led her into the bedroom.

Joey didn’t really have anything that fit her. She ended up wearing the smallest things he did have: a solid grey long sleeve shirt and a pair of navy blue sweatpants. They were still way too big for her. She thought she looked ridiculous; Joey thought she looked adorable.

”You know what they have here that I oughta make use of?” Joey asked after they had made their way back to the main area.

”What is it, honey?” Rachel asked as she lied down on the couch and was stretching. Wearing Joey’s clothes had turned out to be pretty comfortable.

”I think I should use their grill.”

Rachel snorted, laughing loudly. Joey didn’t say anything. “You’re... serious?”

”Yeah,” Joey asserted. “I mean, what’s to lose? Did you have any other ideas for supper?” Rachel shook her head. “So, I go down to the store—it’s just probably two blocks away—and grab us a couple of steaks. I don’t have a lot of opportunities to grill things!”

Rachel chuckled. “Okay, why not?” she replied. So Rachel flipped on the TV to see if there was anything worth watching. Joey got home and fiddled around with the grill for a few minutes before Rachel heard him call her name. “Yes, hon,” she replied.

”Do you know how a grill works?” he asked. She chuckled under her breath while waiting for a moment before getting up and stepping outside to go help Joey.

”All this talk of grills and you didn’t even know how to use one?” Rachel asked. Joey shrugged. She shook head back and forth, smiling. “Okay,” she started, “I would try turning this knob to the ‘on’ position.”

”I tried that,” Joey insisted, “nothing happened.”

”Hmm,” Rachel said, “don’t you need to light it? Like with a lighter? People always talk about ‘lighting the grill.’”

”I don’t know, Rach,” Joey said, frowning “I don’t want to accidentally set this grill on fire.”

”Yeah, no, because doesn’t the knob just release the propane? And then you have to actually start it? Plus, I don’t think you should be able to set a grill on fire.”

So, Joey went to get a lighter from inside the house and place the flame inside the grill. He jumped back as the grill got fire, half colliding with Rachel. “I guess that’s it. You’re pretty smart, Rach.”

Rach blushed. “Thank you, Joey,” she said as she walked back inside while Joey placed the steaks on the new flame.

After ten minutes or so, Joey walked back into the house carrying a plate of steak for each of them. A Jeopardy marathon had turned out to be the best thing on television, so they watched that from the couch while they ate. Joey ended up eating a good part of Rachel’s food, which she suspected was going to become a recurring theme, but she got more than enough to make her full, and Joey made sure of that.

After they finished eating, Joey heated up some hot chocolate he had bought at the store and turned on the fire place. “You know, Joey, I’m not complaining, this whole meal seems a little incongruent. I don’t usually eat grilled steak during the dead of winter,” Rachel pointed out. 

“Oh, I don’t know,” Joey replied. “Grilled steak, hot chocolate, fireplace, Jeopardy marathon—I think we’re living the dream.”

Rachel smiled. “Well, Alex Trebek _is_ a national treasure,” she agreed.

”That he is,” Joey replied.

They watched three more episodes of Jeopardy, complete with one or the other of them guessing at almost every answer, usually incorrectly, until Joey pointed out that they would want to hit the road the next day sooner rather than later, and suggested they head to bed.

”Yeah, I guess we should probably get to sleep,” Rachel said in agreement.

”Oh, I didn’t say anything about sleep,” Joey said with a wink. Rachel smiled.

Later that night, as she fell asleep in the dark bedroom in Northern Maine and Joey wrapped both of his arms around her, pulling her close and keeping her warm, Rachel thought that she really might have been living the dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rest in peace, Alex Trebek.
> 
> Also, I have no idea how grills work, either, so there’s definitely a chance I got it completely and totally wrong, but if that’s the case, I hope you will be able to look past it.


	18. Chapter 18

The next morning it was Rachel who woke up first. It was already 9:15, and as much as she wanted to cuddle up against Joey and drift of back to sleep (especially considering how much their room had cooled down overnight), she wanted to be most of the way home before it got too dark, and she was started to get anxious to get back to Emma. Rachel sat up, leaned over Joey, and shook him gently.

She watched as his eyes opened groggily before meeting hers. “Hey, baby,” he said, clearly tired. He smiled at her and ran a hand down along her body, which she just then realized was not wearing any clothes. Rachel put a hand against his face and leaned down to kiss him.

”I think we should start getting ready to leave now,” she told him. He groaned, but seemed to be in agreement. Rachel stepped out into the hall to grab the clothes she had driven up in, Joey double-checked that he had indeed turned the grill off (or at least he had turned the knob to off, which he could only hope had done the trick), and they both collected the few belongings they had brought up.

“I’m gonna miss you while I’m driving home,” Joey told Rachel while they both stood in front of the house just before leaving. “I had a lot of fun here. A lot more fun than I expected to have on this trip.”

”I’m going to miss you, too,” Rachel said, and to her surprise, she actually meant it. That prompted her to suggest that they meet up for lunch somewhere along the way, and so they made plans to do exactly that.

They agreed to get off at the exit in Marlborough, Massachusetts, and they drove around the town together looking for a place to eat until they settled on a Brazilian place. Apparently, Marlborough had a large Brazilian community. Rachel didn’t think she looked too good—her clothes were three days old and her hair was all messed up—but Joey convinced her that she looked fine, and they spent almost the entire meal laughing. About what, Rachel wouldn’t remember, but she had a great time. Having fun with Joey seemed so easy.

She didn’t get very close to her goal of getting home before it got dark, but driving around New York in the dark she found much easier than driving through rural Maine. She and Joey apparently got home at almost exactly the same time, as they ran into each other on the sidewalk after having parked their cars. They stood next to each other looking at the coffee shop and the apartment building. Rachel knew she would have to walk over to the building where she shared an apartment with Ross. She was not looking forward to seeing him, although it would definitely be good to see Emma.

”We’re home,” Rachel said to Joey. “Excited?”

Joey surprised Rachel by putting both of his arms around her and kissing her. He looked into her eyes. “I can’t wait,” he said.

A few days after their trip, and the end of a very enjoyable date, Rachel was waiting in Joey’s kitchen for him to come out of the bathroom before saying goodbye. When she saw Joey walking towards her and prepared to head back to her apartment with Ross, she came to a decision. Joey put placed both arms around her, leaned her against the counter, and kissed her, making her giggle.

”Joey, I can’t keep living with Ross,” she said. Joey nodded but didn’t say anything. “The anger, the resentment, from both of us,” she continued. “I’m not sure we’ve said twenty words to each other since you and I got home. I can’t take it. I’m sick of being so stressed out just by being in my own home.” A tear formed in her eye, and Joey hugged her close.

”Are you saying you’d like to move back in with me?” Joey asked.

Rachel paused. “I guess that makes the most sense, doesn’t it? Is it too soon? Would I sleep in your bedroom or would I get my old room back?”

Joey haf-shrugged. “Either way is fine by me. Rachel, your always welcome to move back.”

”Thanks, Joey,” she said. “I should go back to Ross’s place, but I’ll think about it.”

And the next morning, she showed up with Emma in a stroller, holding a bag with some clothes and some other supplies. “I couldn’t do it anymore, Joey. I couldn’t do it anymore.” Joey came to wrap his arms around her and hold her tightly.

”You can put your stuff in the bedroom,” Joey said, gesturing towards the back of the apartment. Rachel hesitated, not sure of which bedroom he was referring to. After a moment, she walked into his bedroom and placed his things on his (their?) bed. Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw him smile.

”Do you think it’s too soon to be doing this?” Rachel asked.

”I don’t know, Rach,” Joey said, “maybe. But I just know that those two mornings in Maine when I got to wake up in the morning and see you lying next to me, those were some of the happiest moments of my life. And I think there are few things I’d love more than to get to do that every morning.”

And a couple of days later, when Rachel was fully moved in, and Joey walked into their bedroom to find her sprawled out of the bed, smiling in her sleep, Joey wondered what possibly could make him happier. “I love you, Rachel,” he whispered.

”I love you, too,” she replied softly as he climbed into bed.


	19. Chapter 19

By the time Rachel had settled into living with Joey, Christmas was coming up fast and she hadn’t had any time to prepare. She got Monica to go to the store with her after work, although Monica had already bought almost everything for herself.

Monica, despite telling Rachel she shouldn’t have waited so long, really didn’t mind. She enjoyed the chance to catch up with her friend. “How are things going with Joey?” she asked.

”Things are actually going really well,” Rachel answered. “I’m really happy. He makes me happy. He and Emma get along great, too.”

”Good.”

”Do you think we’re going too fast?” Rachel asked.

Monica didn’t answer for a moment. “I think he loves you very much. I think he really does. And I think you love him, too.” Rachel frowned at Monica’s lack of an answer. “We all move at different speeds. If you guys are really happy—and it seems like you are—then I don’t think you’re moving too fast.”

”I really am happy, Monica,” Rachel asserted. “I’ve just been down this road before, you know? I’ve been married once before, and almost twice.”

”Joey is nothing like Barry,” Monica assured her friend. “Or Ross,” she added. “And I think you know that.”

”I do. I’m more relaxed around him than I was around anyone I’ve dated before. And I trust him.” Rachel paused before continuing. “I should have trusted him when Ross lied. I should have listened to him,” she said after lowering her voice.

”You can’t stay hung up on that, Rachel,” Monica said. “You have to move forward.”

“I know,” said Rachel. So they moved through the stores and Rachel picked up something for all of her friends, until there was only one person Rachel hadn’t bought anything for. “Monica,” Rachel said, sounding almost ashamed, “I have no idea what to get Joey for Christmas.”

”You know, Rachel, I think Joey would be happy with almost anything you would give him.”

”I know, I know, but I want to think of something good. Why can’t I think of anything? I really love him, Mon; why is this so difficult?”

“It doesn’t have to be perfect,” Monica said. “Just think of something that you think would make him happy.”

Rachel still wasn’t sure what to get him until she was talking with Monica about the places they had gone together (Staten Island, Maine, Marlborough), and Monica told her “you two have seen quite a bit of the world together.” That gave Rachel and idea, although she was worried it was stupid and even after Monica convinced her to go with it, she bought something else, too.

“Thanks for coming with me,” Rachel said as she and Monica walked into their rooms on opposite sides of the hall.

”Of course. I had fun,” Monica said as she nodded to indicate Joey coming up behind Rachel.

”Hey, baby,” he said as Rachel closed the door. “Christmas shopping?”

”Yeah. Yeah, it’s coming up.”

Joey nodded, and for a second there was an awkward silence between them. “Rach,” he said eventually, “I hope you like what I got you, but I’m not the best at giving gifts and stuff, and I just want you to know....” He paused. “I really love you, Rach. I really _really_ love you. These past few days have so amazing.”

“I love you, too, Joey,” Rachel said as she walked forward to kiss him. “I’m sure I’ll like whatever you got. But I’m not the best as giving things, either, for the record.” Rachel kissed Joey again. “I love you,” she said, making Joey smile. He grinned back and wrapped his arms around her.

When Christmas came around, all the friends gathered together. Emma was there—it was her first Christmas—although it seemed unlikely she would remember it, especially considering she was sound asleep. Phoebe brought her new boyfriend Mike, while Ross sat alone.

The whole gang was smiling and laughing and passing out presents. Rachel gave Joey first the “safer” present: a new winter coat. (She fully intended to keep the one he had leant her in Maine.)

Joey tried the coat on, and it seemed to fit fine, except when he zipped it up all the way and put the hood on, it left barely a third of his face visible. Between that, and the combination of the heavy coat and Joey’s casual pants, Rachel couldn’t help but to giggle. She leaned in and unzipped the top part of the jacket. “I don’t think you’re supposed to zip it up all the way,” she said softly right before leaning in and unzipping it, exposing Joey’s mouth again and allowing her to kiss him.

”It looks good on you,” Chandler added as Rachel went to grab her other gift.

”This one might be a little silly,” she said, as Joey opened it and saw what it was. “It’s one of those maps that you stick the pins in. And, you’ll notice that it already has three pins in it. It’s the three places we’ve been together. I loved every moment of going out with you and discovering new places,” Rachel chuckled for a second here, “that I didn’t even know existed. Like the sizable Brazilian population of Marlborough, Massachusetts or (apparently) a whole entire island that’s part of New York City. So, I think I would like very much to keep finding new places with you.” Rachel held her breath for a moment.

”It’s not silly,” Joey said. He looked at Rachel so only she could see the smile on his face and the tear that began to form in his eye. “It’s not silly at all,” he said, and hugged her.

”My turn,” Joey said, before handing her his present for her: a necklace with a small snowman at the end. He smiled as he explained to her how cute and happy he thought she looked when they built a snowman together, and how happy that made him, and how that was a moment that he might have been content had it never ended.

When he was finished talking, he put the necklace on her and noticed the tears of joy that were creeping their way into her eyes. He kissed her, for what was originally meant to be a short moment but evolved into a much longer one, lasting until Ross cleared his throat and they pulled away from each other.

”Merry Christmas, Joey,” she said.

”Merry Christmas, Rachel,” he replied.


	20. Chapter 20

A few days after Christmas, most of the gang was hanging out at Central Perk, and only Ross was missing. Rachel, who had been kept up late by Emma, was resting her head on Joey’s chest. When she heard Ross’s voice she sat upright again, leading Joey to frown and put his arm over her shoulders.

”Hey, guys,” Ross said. Chandler returned his greeting. Rachel was still barely tolerating being around him, and she said as little to him as she could. “I have... an announcement to make,” he said, as he sat down in a chair. He sounded hesitant, almost nervous. Rachel narrowed her eyes at him as he continued.

“I got a job offer,” he said, and laughed nervously. “It’s a great job, another teaching job, but closer to a lot of the digs that are going on... it’s really a great offer....”

”That’s great, man,” Chandler said, but Rachel could tell he wasn’t done talking. For just a split second, Ross looked right at her, although she could tell he was trying not to.

”It’s at the University of Oklahoma,” Ross said eventually. “I’m leaving.” No one said anything.

”It’s really a much better....” Ross continued, without finishing his sentence. “I have to get moving, I’m going out tonight. They want me there ASAP to prepare for the new semester.”

”Good for you, Ross,” Chandler said, and after a long period of silence, got up to give him a hug. “I’ve spent a while in Oklahoma, and I hope you like it there.” Monica and Phoebe followed Chandler’s lead and got up to hug Ross.

”This isn’t how I wanted to say goodbye, but, circumstances....” Ross’s eyes again flashed towards Rachel for just a split second, although no one could have noticed but her. Ross moved towards the door. “I have to get things settled to move, but I’ll come by later today to say goodbye. And I’ll call you all as soon as I get there, I promise.”

”Hey, nice job on the new job, Ross,” Joey said. “Sounds exciting.”

Ross smiled emotionlessly. “Thank you, Joey. I think so, too.”

Rachel said nothing as he walked out the door.

Ross kept his promise to stop by everyone’s apartment. Joey heard him come out of Monica and Chandler’s apartment (where Phoebe also was) and stepped out into the hallway to talk to him. Rachel was in their bedroom with Emma, but Joey wanted more privacy.

”You don’t have to do this,” Joey said after he had closed the door to his apartment. Joey was still angry with Ross for the lie he told Rachel, but he didn’t want Ross to leave.

”I know,” Ross said. “I want to. It’s a great job opportunity.”

Joey narrowed his eyes. “It’s so much better a job to be a professor at the University of Oklahoma than to be a professor at NYU?” Joey asked suspiciously.

”Well, you know, it’s closer to some of the digs, and it’s, you know....” Ross trailed off. He paused for a long moment. “Are you going to break up with her?” Ross asked, eventually, much more quietly.

Joey waited. Deep down, he knew the answer, even if he didn’t want to tell Ross. “No, I don’t think I am,” Joey said, looking away from Ross. “I love her.”

”Right,” Ross said, and there was another long pause where neither of them said anything. And as he thought about, Joey realized he knew what it was like to want to get far away from the ruins of a relationship. Just weeks ago, he had done the same. “Take care of her,” Ross said eventually. That was the last thing Ross said to Joey before leaving. He stepped forward and Joey hugged him.

Ross said goodbye to Rachel, said goodbye to Emma, and promised once more to call as soon as he landed, before taking off for the airport. It was a scene that made Joey briefly wonder whether Ross would say any sort of goodbye at all to Ben.

Rachel sat on the couch for a moment, not saying anything, before she decided she needed to go take a walk around the block and left Joey with Emma. He was watching over her when Chandler entered.

”He’s really gone, Joey,” Chandler said.

“Yeah, it’s crazy,” Joey agreed, and chuckled ironically for a moment before looking up and seeing the expression of anger on Chandler’s face.

”You had to go and do it, Joey, didn’t you? He’s not coming back, you know. Ever. Never gonna see him again.”

Joey shook his head. “Oh, man, Chandler, you can’t blame for that.” Chandler said nothing. “Chandler, you can’t blame me for Ross,” Joey said, quickly, as his eyes widened.

”God,” Chandler said quietly as he smacked his thigh. “Who can I blame then?” he asked. “Who? Huh? Who am I supposed to blame?” he asked, his volume rising. “Who am I supposed to blame?” he said once more, just in time for Rachel to walk into the room. Neither of them said anything as Joey’s girlfriend surveyed the scene.

”Chandler, can I talk to you in the hallway?” Rachel asked. Chandler followed Rachel out of the apartment, closing the door behind him, and sat down next to her with his back against the wall.

“You can’t blame Joey for what Ross did,” Rachel said. Chandler said nothing. “Chandler, Ross is a grown man who made, who makes, his own decisions. That’s not Joey’s fault.”

”I know that,” Chandler said eventually. “It’s just strange to think about it, you know? Everything! Ross is gone, Joey decided to settle down, with _you_.”

Rachel nodded. “Some changes are for the better,” she said.

”Yeah,” Chandler said unconvincingly. “It’s just easier to think of a simpler time. Me and Joey as roommates, hanging out in the recliners, watching _Baywatch_ , talking about our dating lives, taking care of the duck and the chick. You have to wonder if that wasn’t a better time.”

Rachel narrowed her eyes at him and slapped him on the leg. “Chandler, you don’t mean that,” she said, irritatedly. “You know how I know you don’t mean that? Because you’re with Monica now.”

”Yes,” Chandler said.

”And you love her, right?”

“More that you could imagine.”

”And yet back in the time you just described, would that not have seemed barely more strange than Joey and me?”

”I suppose that’s right. You really love him, huh?”

”I do. I really, really do.” Rachel let her tone soften. “Chandler, I get missing the past. I do. And you know who hates change more than almost anyone else I know? Joey. Go talk to him. But you can’t blame him.”

Chandler nodded and stood up to walk back into the apartment. “Hey, Joey,” he said. “I’m sorry I blamed you for Ross’s decision. It’s just that sometimes it’s easy to reminisce about the past and forget just how good the present is.” Chandler hugged Joey. “You really love her don’t you?”

Joey smiled. “I’m crazy about her,” he said.

And on the other side of the doorway that Chandler hadn’t closed, Rachel smiled, too.


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s now been over a year since I started this. That’s crazy. Thank you to everyone who has read this. I never intended for it to be this long—and I’m still going.

New Year’s Eve was only a couple of days after Ross left. Joey and Rachel had just been planning to stay in for the night until Chandler convinced them to come to a party held by one of his coworkers.

”I’m not sure if I’m young enough for this,” Rachel said as she walked into the room with bright lights and loud music.

”Oh, come on, Rach. It’s _New Year’s Eve_! Don’t you want to celebrate 2002?”

”I suppose 2002 was a pretty good year, although it had it’s ups and downs. But I think I’d rather celebrate it by sitting in our chair on your lap in comfortable clothes watching a movie. At a comfortable volume,” she added as whatever song was playing reached a particularly loud section.

”That does sound nice,” Joey said, and for a second he thought about how much he had changed over the past few years that that sounded as nice as it did. “Listen,” he said, slowing down and turning to look at Rachel. “You decide you want to go, just let me know.”

”And what are you going to tell people if we leave before it even hits midnight?” Rachel asked. Joey shrugged. “I’m going to make you tell them something super embarrassing.”

”Okay,” Joey said. “I’ll tell everyone I pissed my pants if you want me to.”

That made Rachel start laughing. “Joey!” she exclaimed, but ended up laughing some more. Joey shook his head and put his arm around her shoulders, guiding her towards Monica and Chandler, who he had spotted in the corner.

Despite her worries, Rachel had a great time at the party. It was good to hang out with her friends, and it was New Year’s Eve after all.

As midnight got closer and closer, Rachel and Joey started to reminisce about previous New Years. “Remember three years ago—was it four?—when we kissed on New Year’s Eve?” Joey asked.

Rachel frowned for a moment. “I’m mot sure I do. What was the story behind that again?”

”That was when Monica and Chandler had just started dating, but I was the only one who knew, so I tried to get it so they could kiss each other.”

Rachel was silent for a moment before breaking into a smile. “I do remember that,” she said. “Wow. Who could have guess what that would have blossomed into all these years down the road?”

Joey grinned back at his girlfriend. “Yes,” he said, “now I can kiss you whenever I want.”

”Well, 2002 was a pretty good year overall,” Rachel said.

”Baby, 2003 is going to be so awesome it will make 2002 look like small potatoes.”

Rachel smiled. “What makes you say that, Joey?”

”I’m gonna spend the whole year with you.”

Rachel grinned even more as the countdown to midnight began. _Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Four! Three! Two! One!_

Joey leaned in to kiss Rachel hard as soon as the clock struck midnight. Even as the couples around them pulled away from each other, he didn’t let go of her.

”You know, I think Joey and Rachel might have something together that’s more than just being friends,” Chandler said to his wife, observing the scene.

Monica chuckled. “I’m glad they found each other,” she said.

A couple of weeks into January, Joey heard that one of his costars was starring in a new Broadway musical. He was offered tickets to the show plus a small party beforehand and excitedly accepted, not paying attention to what the show was actually about.

Rachel and he got dressed in some of the nicest clothes they had. He told her how beautiful she looked as they rode a cab uptown. When they arrived, Joey introduced Rachel to many of his famous costars that she was eager to meet.

Both Joey and Rachel thought that the musical was hilarious. The only problem was that it wasn’t supposed to be. The plot of the show was that a trio of children at an abusive orphanage become obsessed with the idea of “jumping” into the TV to escape their poor situation. This leads one of them to rob a store for a TV which he then sticks through the screen and starts walking around, but with his vision obscured, he falls off a high cliff and dies. When his two friends do not see his dead body, they believe he successfully jumped into TV-land and gather the entire orphanage to kill themselves by jumping off the cliff. The child played by Joey’s costar was the only one left alive when the scene was found, and was sentenced to murder and given the death penalty.

If the plot didn’t sound bad enough, the writing was bad, the acting was bad, and the songs were _terrible_. When the first scene started, Joey was barely able to prevent himself from laughing out loud before realizing it wasn’t a comedy. Rachel and Joey both spent the entire time squeezing the other’s hand, practically breaking their bones, just trying not to laugh. Neither even glanced at the other knowing that their facial expressions would make it impossible to keep from laughing.

When they decided they were sufficiently far away from the theater, both Rachel and Joey broke down laughing.

“My head is in a television. I can’t see anything, but that’s okay. It’s not like seeing keeps me alive,” Rachel sang, only as off-key as she heard in the musical, to a tune that seemed to be a mangled version of Dvorak’s Ninth symphony.

”I’m going off the cliff. At the bottom of the cliff I will die because of having been killed by the long fall,” Joey sang in a similarly out-of-tune fashion, to the tune of what could best be described as a polka. Both lines would be heard frequently over the coming months whenever one of them felt the other needed to be cheered up.

They laughed for a long time. Joey kept smiling even after they stopped thinking about how cute Rachel looked when she was really laughing hard. 

Only for a moment did the smile fade away from his face. “Rach,” he said, “I’m sorry if I can’t be someone who appreciates the finer things in life, at least if that play counts as one of the ‘finer things.’ I hope you can, you know, look past that.”

Rachel gave Joey a strange look. “Look past that? Joey, I would be highly concerned if you _did_ unironically like that show. No, I’m done with involving myself with that pretentious nonsense. I love you.”

“I love you, too,” Joey said. The two of them walked down along Broadway hand in hand, talking and laughing.

After a couple of minutes, Rachel stopped walking. “Let’s get ice cream,” she said, pointing out the ice cream shop they were standing outside of.

Joey looked confused. “Won’t we get cold?” he asked. It was surprisingly warm for a January night, but that still meant only the very low 50s. 

“We’ll be fine,” Rachel asserted. So they went inside the shop, not even noticing how much more dressed up they were than anyone else there, and each order a small cone to eat as they kept walking down the sidewalk.

At some point, despite her insistence otherwise, Rachel did end up getting cold. Joey gave her his coat to wear, and despite the fact that he ended up being cold himself, he really didn’t mind.


End file.
